I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to techniques for managing cooperative relay operation in a wireless communication environment.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services; for instance, voice, video, packet data, broadcast, and messaging services can be provided via such wireless communication systems. These systems can be multiple-access systems that are capable of supporting communication for multiple terminals by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals. In such a system, each terminal can communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. This communication link can be established via a single-in-single-out (SISO), multiple-in-signal-out (MISO), or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.
In various wireless communication systems, relay nodes and/or other suitable network nodes can be utilized to enhance communication between an Evolved Node B (eNB) and respective user equipment units (UEs) served by the eNB. For example, in the case of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARM) transmission and/or another suitable repeat transmission scheme, a relay node can detect communication between an eNB and UE and assist on re-transmissions to the UE as required.
In order for a relay node to provide assistance in the above manner, the relay node can be configured to monitor and decode control information exchanged between an associated eNB and a designated set of UEs associated with the eNB that the relay node can potentially assist. Conventionally, respective UEs that can be potentially assisted with a relay node are associated with control decoding search spaces, which are processed by the relay node to determine control resources to monitor and/or utilize for a given UE or set of UEs. However, as the overall search space associated with the set of UEs that can be potentially assisted by the relay node increases, an associated relay node can experience an increase in required complexity and/or a decrease in overall performance (e.g., due to an increased probability of false decodes). Accordingly, it would be desirable to implement techniques for control decoding for cooperative relay operation in a wireless communication system that yield lower complexity and/or enhanced performance.